OUR RABIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17573, 25 June 1925, Page 12

OUR RABIES.

] (By ) ' ;

HYGEIA.

Published under the auspic-s* of I 1 the Royal Npw Zealand Society for the Health of "Women and Children (Flunks Society). ” Tt Js wiser to put up a fence .at the top of a. precipice than t r > maintain an ambulance at the bottom.’ TB AIN TNGH A B ITS. AYo feel bound to dissent from Proferror Holt’s view that, all children of necessity masticate llioir food vei t imperfectly. Certainly modern children tend lo chew imperfectly and to bolt their food, but this is because no suppress the natural tendency ul babies to cat hard, dry solids—wo give them “mush” instead. If you thwart au instinct or refuse, to gratify it ot the time when it first manifests itself, the tendency of such instinct is to die out, and all effort to resuscitate it later on may bo of little avail. Thus it is with mastication. Wo let the golden opportunity slip by when tho baby wants something hard to bite, aud wo try in vain afterwards to make* him take time and masticate his food properly. Children can b° I aught to masticate thoroughly at a. very early ago by giving them materials which need to bo chewed as their first solid food; and this habit one© ingrained aud established, will continue and increase in strength if tactfully fostered by tho precept aud example of parent, and muses. The .judicious training of the senses and tho creation and building up of healthful habits at the dawn of life until they become as dominant, and compulsive as tho instincts of the lower animals are among tho most im - portant and interesting aspects of the, care of children. T hus n. very young child who has been habituated to appreciate pleasant smells and to dislike and shun foul ones, to appreciate pure.

fresh, air and to slum foul air, will open a, window as if by instinct, when placed in a close, stuffy room. Similarly a. child trained to •eniovc or reject hard, unsuitable objects from food, s’.n-h as tho seeds of oranges or grapes, will BOO„ cornu to do bo 5b if by instinct and will not swallow tish-bon.es if they accidentally enter the mouth. If instead of always taking away theseeds it is pointed out from time to tinn’s that there is a pip in a, particular spoonful of orange-juice and that this must be removed from the mouth, tho sense of appreciation in this direction will bo trained and developed through the sense of sight, and tho intelligence, aud tho muscles involved in tho act, of rejection will bo trained also. On tho other hand, if tho parents do everything themselves to safeguard the child and dp not train its own senses and muscles to safeguard itself, there will he no power automatic or reflex protective development-. A child of two or throe years of ago eau easily he trained to thoroughly masticate ami to eat slowJv vegetables or a ripe raw apple, just .as it ean be trained to gnaw a bone and to chew what it. succeeds in tearing or biting off. The effects of sin-li exorcise on trie jaw:-. Iccth. muscles, <?t* - ., are obvious, but- 1 here is an ■equally important effect on the development of primitive. intelligence, f confidence, and self-depend’Tice. The fostering of sound, regular, v hygienic organic habits and sell relianeo at the. earliest possible age not only establishes such habits for life, end promotes the growth ot <ho parts immediately concerned, as well as the health of the body genera Ur. hill' will niso manifest Us' influence' on higher planes. Tendencies trained carlv into the very tissue end structure, of the simpler and more primitive vital organs will assert themselves later oil in assisting the development, and 'ins - t ioiiing of the most complex and pe. uliaily human parts of the organism upon w hich character, control u .j conduct to a large extent Jepend.